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Sports

Fillies Soccer Finds New Ways to Surprise Coach

Barrington wins sectional championship with 1-0 victory over Crystal Lake South.

When Barrington’s coach Ryan Stengren was asked about the nearly 300 minutes the Fillies have kept opponents scoreless in the playoffs, he was stunned.

“Really,” a semi-shocked Stengren said following Barrington's 1-0 win at the Jacobs Sectional Championship.  “I guess I hadn’t really added it up.”

Barrington hasn’t allowed a goal since the early first half of the opening round of the class 3A IHSA playoffs when they beat Lake Zurich 4-2. Those goals seem to have spurred the Fillies defense to playing even more quick and physical of late.

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The defense has helped in their shutouts over Jacobs (3-0) in the regional championship, a 1-0 sectional opening round win over powerful Huntley (ranked in the top 5 according to ESPNrise), and now their championship win over the Gators 1-0.   And some of that credit for the stingy defense goes to senior goalkeeper Kelly Pedersen.

“She’s been doing really, really, well for us lately,” Stengren said of his goalie that has a 0.5 goals allowed average through the playoffs and none during sectionals.

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“She is constantly organizing the defense with her mouth,” Barrington’s coach went on to say.  ”That saves her from having to use her hands.”

Pedersen agrees that the key to the defense starts with talking.

“Talking has been the biggest thing,” Pedersen said of the defense that only allowed 6 shots on goals for Crystal Lake and only 10 during sectionals.  “(The defense) talks all the time about backing each other up so I might be reminding them of that, or maybe I will be talking to one of my center backs, like Emmelie Hirdes, to keep everyone in line.”

Everyone was on the same page against the Gators as the Fillies only allowed two shots on goals during the first half of the sectional championship and that ability to control the pace with the defense opened up the offense.  Barrington recorded 16 shots on goals (11 the first half) including the game winner from sophomore Molly Pfeiffer at the 20:25 mark of the first half.

The game’s lone goal was scored on a corner kick coming off the foot of freshman defender Mia Calamari.  The kick from the set piece went to the far post where Pfeiffer was ready to poke it in off a header that shot the ball past Gator goalkeeper Elizabeth Quinn.   Quinn, who has also been hot lately, hasn’t allowed a goal since the opening round of the playoffs (3-2 win on PK’S).

“We’ve been practicing that (set piece) a lot in practice,” Stengren said.  “To get that ball, on an 80  yard wide field, is pretty good.”

But Stengren felt that the team missed too many valuable opportunities during the game, considering the Fillies have averaged more than two goals a match in the playoffs.

“It doesn’t matter if (the win) is pretty as long as we get by (to the next round),” he said of the missed chances.  “Usually we have a high soccer I.Q. but today it wasn’t where we wanted it to be; we could have had three more goals, a couple of different times.”

Thankfully for Barrington, South ran into a hot defense and goal tender in Pedersen who was only really tested a few times, with the most threatening shot coming from a late South surge as the game was ending (2:11 mark).

“To not get tested for long stretches and then suddenly you get tested on one of the best chances of the game, she came up big,” Stengren said.

“That was nerve wracking,” Pedersen said of her punch that sent the ball sailing over the net.  “It was just reaction because I think if I would have committed that would have been bad.”

“We had one crisp chance that we want with two minutes left but Pedersen made a terrific save,” South’s head coach Brian Allen said.  “That’s the ball game right there.”

The game saving effort puts Barrington into the Super Sectionals for the third straight year, which all three have been home games for the Fillies.  The match will be on Tuesday, May 31, at 7 p.m.  and Barrington will face familiar MSL rival Fremd.

“It feels good and another chance since it hasn’t ended like we would like,” Pedersen said of returning home for the match that will send the winner to state.  “I hope we can pull it off for my senior year, so I’m very excited and optimistic.”  

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